Do You Want the Truth Or Something Beautiful
by Ryder Bellamiren
Summary: Aerith always seems to know when someone's coming to the Garden. Two complete strangers, one using a blue box and the other carrying a sword that holds as many secrets as it reveals, are forced by Destiny and Fate to have a chat. Hey, even ideas and postulations need to have fun. Alternate Universe!


_**SKIP THE AUTHOR'S NOTE IF RANTS BOTHER YOU. I'M SERIOUS, JUST SKIP TO THE FIRST LINE IN THE FIC. **_

**A/N:** Why does this happen? I'm looking at the Everything Nerdy and Anything Between Facebook page and Doctor Who strikes again... This is getting to be a habit. No, seriously. Why? It's like being struck with a baseball bat. I'm laughing or nodding at pictures of fandoms I love; then it's either a picture of the TARDIS or a Doctor and my Muses go, 'HEEEEEEYYYYYYY, THAT PROBABLY HASN'T BEEN DONE BEFORE, WE SHOULD MAKE IT.' They're like spoilt brats. Ugh. *headdesks* Should I just give up attempting to escape Doctor Who? It's been driving me up a wall. I've seen exactly five episodes and it's haunting me... If you think this isn't the weirdest shit ever to come out of my brain, then you're welcome to it. Leave me a review if you loved it, hated every word or just didn't give a shit.

**DISCLAIMER:** Of course I own the pretty blue box, First Tsuguri and the men who- NO. Of course I don't. What part of fanfiction says I own either series? Nothing. I'm just playing with them and hand them back unharmed... Mostly. Poor Cloud.

**WARNING:** _ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. __**RANDOM CRAP IS RANDOM CRAP.**_ Read into it what you will. _ALSO CONTAINS SPOILERS IF YOU DON'T FOLLOW DOCTOR WHO OR HAVEN'T PLAYED KINGDOM HEARTS/FINAL FANTASY VII/CRISIS CORE GAMES._

Ryder

* * *

If you knew Cloud Strife... Well, you knew that he was an intensely private person who respected the women he lived with (save Yuffie but the annoying Great Ninja does not count), fought to keep Radiant Garden restored so that Leon's hard work didn't go to waste and he fought Sephiroth nearly every day to keep the world from slipping back into the Darkness. Therefore, Fate and Destiny saw it fit for the Hero to meet another quite like him.

Now, those who knew the Doctor would say that he was a spazz. No, literally. He was an alien who traveled in a blue police box, saved the universe more times than he was aware of and always managed to lose or miss his companions. This particular alien had regenerated exactly ten times and he had three more to go before there were no more Timelords left. Thus our story begins...

* * *

Cloud unwrapped the bandage around First Tsuguri and carefully cleaned each blade. Leon joined him shortly after his third small blade, bringing out his own kit with a small smile. After finishing together, they spotted Aerith coming towards them with sandwiches and waited. Having finished said sandwiches (which were delicious), they sat on the wall.

"We'll be getting a visitor soon." she hummed as she sat between them, watching the sun set over the horizon.

"Do they have a name?" Leon asked, instantly the SEED Commander from his early days kicking in. Cloud pushed a small rock around with his boot tip while listening to them chat.

"Not that I can tell. He's different." Aerith said brightly. "Brilliant but lonely and older than he looks."

"Kind of like me then." he stated wryly, "Only his problems don't stem from his own personal Darkness embodied."

"True. Most people don't have manifestations like Sephiroth. He does have problems though. They're not exactly as visible."

"Hn."

"Don't you 'Hn' me, Mr. Cloud. You know Za-" She stopped when she noticed the pained look in his eyes. That memory was one of his worst; it was followed by killing his once Hero over and over again. A memory that Sephiroth didn't help, though he stayed far away from the topic of Zack, so beloved to them both that the mere mention had them cringing in unison. "He'd give you a noogie."

"Yeah, he-Ack! Aerith!" She had him in a headlock and rubbed his spikes into more disarray.

"Gotcha." she smiled sweetly before taking off. Cloud followed her with a laugh that was a little hysterical but neither she nor Leon mentioned it.

"You'll pay for the noogie even if I have to give Yuffie Materia!"

* * *

"No matter how many times I completely annihilate the Daleks, they keep showing up." he mumbled to himself. Used to being entirely alone in the TARDIS after his companions had left, he slapped a hand over both his hearts when a projection appeared if front of him. "What?!"

"Hello."

"Well. Hello to you too then." The projection looked like a woman and he even decided that it would be necessary to stick his fingers through her. She merely laughed the sound soft yet knowing.

"Did I give you a shock? I do apologize for that. My name is Aerith." The genuine smile makes him flash one of his own. "Foxy, are we? Hmm, a bit more like Reno than I thought.

"Do you want something?" he starts fiddling with his sonic screwdriver as a matter of habit. It's the one thing he hasn't been able to shake at all in any of his incarnations.

"Well, there's a world called Radiant Garden. I need you to visit someone." her tone said she didn't understand why she was delivering this particular message. "They're rather vague about the whole thing."

"They?" The question came out before he thought about saying it.

"Mmm, you would know them as Fate and Destiny. They like to play hide and seek sometimes." she said as though it were natural to communicate with beings that didn't exist. "Oh they exist Doctor and they've been anticipating this meeting for years now. Millennia, perhaps, and all based on this beautiful box of yours. She's quite the woman."

"Woman?" He was suddenly very interested in what she had to say. She looked familiar somehow...

"Oops. I wasn't supposed to say anything. Bye!" She disappeared with no sound at all, leaving him with a jaunty wave.

"Allons-y!"

* * *

The quiet 'vworp, vworp' snapped Cloud out of his doze, First Tsuguri in his hand before he stared at the blue box fading in and out. He slapped himself before deciding that it was real.

"Cid, you seeing this?" he murmured incredulously as he inspected the box from the outside. They'd recently upgraded to wireless headsets that Cid had built with Leon's help.

"Ah'm seein' and not really understandin' a Gaia-damned thing about it. Where's Aerith when ya need her?" the ex-pilot grumbled as he smoked yet another cigarette. Cloud swore that the old man would die by those things; Cid swore back that he didn't care and that Cloud should 'Mind your own Gaia-damned business.' The thought made him grin slightly.

"He needs to meet Cloud." So this was the lonely one she'd talked about two months ago? Hmm. He shrugged, sheathed his blade and knocked on the door.

"Hello, then! Is this Radiant Garden?" The man made his wing twitch in manner it never had before.

"Yes." he shook his head and pressed the talk button. "I swear to Shiva, I have no idea what I'm supposed to talk about. Have any brilliant ideas?" Static filled the other end and he cursed quite colorfully in Wutanese before moving on to other Disney languages. "Always leaves me hanging..."

"You were expecting some support?" The stranger had stepped out of the box and was now leaning on it with an expression of curiosity.

"Aerith's always pushing me to... interact with others." he murmured, his stance relaxing as he realized the blue box posed no particular threat. He sat down on the wall that hung precariously above the clouds, his sword visible now to the man.

"Aerith? You know this woman?"

"Too well." Cloud replied, reluctantly patting the space next to him. "She likes it when people get along."

"I'm the Doctor." This was said in a manner that reminded him of... Zack and Reno together, especially when they wreaked absolute havoc on Shin-Ra time.

"Just Doctor?" he looked over at the man as he said it, Mako eyes glowing in the faint light the sun was still giving off.

"Always have been. Nine centuries and I'm still coping." Cloud burst into startled laughter.

"Nine centuries... Must be nice to be so young." he huffed, a small smile still on his lips from the comment. "Cloud Strife."

"Young? It suits you."

"My planet was Earth before the Goddess decided to make it Earth." Cloud explained at the confused look. "I'm older than I look.

"And your Aerith?"

"Re-incarnated. Same with a few of my other friends; they seem to keep their memories." He shrugged again before digging out a Summon Materia. Cloud rolled it between his hands as the silence lingered. "... I have an enemy."

"I have more than my fair share, I think." the cheeky grin made him roll his eyes.

"One that's not going to leave, I mean. He's... not who he used to be." Painfully aware that Zack might end up in the conversation he plowed on. "We were acquaintances and shared the same friend. Then he did something I can never forgive him for. We've... been fighting ever since." That was putting it lightly too. "I've killed him more times than I can count and yet he keeps coming back. The Darkness that never ends."

"My enemies aren't quite as bad as yours but they do put up a fight." They shared a look and laughed.

"Maybe we needed the perspective of someone else?"

"I really don't see the point in this either." The Doctor admitted with a smile.

"You could come by if you ever get too bored. I don't think I mind waiting." Not when you had centuries of experience, he finished in his mind.

"Brilliant. I'll see what I can do."

As the blue box 'vworp, vworp'ed away, he let the smile linger on his face. Aerith might have known what she was talking about.

* * *

**Ending A/N:** What is this? You know, who cares? There will be _**NO SEQUEL**_ or another chapter. _**THIS STAYS A ONE-SHOT**_. What is it with fanfiction and liking the crap that I type out on a whim or press of the Muses? Hmm... Then again, all of this from the Doctor's point of view would be interesting. Tell you what; you guys review and I'll see what I can do. I tried that with DMM:Ww? and ended up with fourteen chapters with three more to go.


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